#junghwan fic

Given the obvious dynamic between you two, most people in the school had a running joke that you both hated each other. You weren’t quite sure if it was true or not. Hate was a strong word, and annoyed might be a better descriptor of how Junghwan made you feel.

He never seemed to do his work as the president during school hours, spending the time instead flocked with his own group of admirers. You wondered how anyone could take that amount of attention without getting a headache. Not knowing when or if he would ever finish his assigned work had often left you stressing, yet Junghwan always seemed to pull through at the very last minute, often handing you the neatly done work minutes before you needed it. You weren’t sure how Junghwan had even gotten the position as president in the first place with how irresponsible he seemed to be. You were almost certain that he had gotten in by majority vote, using his good looks to get whatever he wanted, as usual. 

Most annoyingly was how his face seemed to stop you from reprimanding him whenever he didn’t do something he was supposed to. It meant more work for you, yet you couldn’t seem to even complain about it. Over the months, it became harder and harder to even keep up the playful banter and savage remarks that you were used to exchanging with him. Before too long you realized the detrimental mistake you had made.

You had grown feelings for him.

Exam season was always extra work for the class presidents. You had to take as many tests as all the other students, but your separate president responsibilities only increased as the end of the school year grew closer. You should’ve noticed the signs of burnout before they hit you hard, but you didn’t.

Everything started to feel overwhelming before you knew it. You could barely focus in class or when you tried to study. Everything seemed to bring you closer to tears, even little things like Junghwan’s teasing. Things you used to handle just fine, even some that you used to enjoy. You barely had the energy to be annoyed at Junghwan anymore, just confused. It was as if he was never affected like you were. Everything seemed so easy for him. It just wasn’t fair. Worst of all, he didn’t even seem to notice how much you were struggling. He was the only classmate in the school that you had ever considered to be your friend, but even now you were questioning it. The more you felt invisible to him, the worse your burnout got.

You kept pushing yourself as much as you could. You didn’t know what else to do but to keep going. It was all you knew how to do. You completed exam after exam, feeling numb each time you got your scores back, watching as they slowly continued to drop 1 point at a time. You tried your best to handle all the activities for class president duties on top of it, but each time you noticed how the quality dropped significantly. You didn’t feel proud of your work like you once used to, you only felt tired. 

You longed each day for someone to care enough to notice how much you were struggling. Particularly, you wished that Junghwan would notice. It was stupid to have developed a crush on him despite how careless and irresponsible he seemed to be, but you had genuinely enjoyed all the banter and rivalry you had with him over the months. It gave you something to look forward to. Another reason for you to do your best, knowing that someone would care and be impressed. Once you lost energy to keep up with it, though, you just wished he would talk to you normally. 

“Hey, Y/n! Can we talk?” Junghwan pulled you aside after class ended, something you couldn’t have predicted in a million years. “Are you okay?” His hands were placed on your shoulders, and he tilted his head, inspecting your face carefully, noticing the unmistakable signs of tiredness with worried eyes.

“Do you even care?” You asked, an unusually irritated tinge in your voice. You never talked like that. You were unused to having him this close to you. As much as you felt unable to do anything, you liked how the simple feeling of his hands on your shoulders seemed to ease away some of the stress you were feeling.

“Yes. I care about you. You’ve seemed so down lately, don’t think I haven’t noticed. I just want to know what’s bothering you.” He frowned when you started to tear up. “Hey…” His voice softened just above a whisper when the tears started to escape your waterline. He reached up to wipe them away, but hesitated at the last second, leaving his hand up in mid-air awkwardly. 

“Sorry.” You sniffed and stepped back from him to wipe away your tears. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me- everything’s just felt like so much. I-it’s stupid.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.” He countered. His tone was almost unlike him. He was always joking and teasing, but he said it so seriously that you instantly wanted to believe him. He led you to sit down by one of the desks, pulling another one right across from it so he could sit facing you.

He coaxed you to tell him everything that was on your mind. You were apprehensive at first, wondering if he might make a joke out of it. You knew him and his tendencies, and while you sometimes adored how he could make light of any situation, it wasn’t something you wanted right now. Thankfully, he didn’t. He knew that it was a situation that was serious to you, and he only listened intently, giving you as much time as you needed. Only after he was sure that you were done telling him everything, he spoke again.

“I think you should step down from being a class president.”

“What?” You were taken aback by his suggestion. It was absurd. You had been the student president for years. You had worked your ass off for it. You almost couldn’t imagine not having the responsibility. 

“Just hear me out— only for a bit. The year is almost over anyway, and you’ve done more than 80% of the work. Next year you can go back to it if you feel like it, but you need a break. I’ll take care of everything, I promise, but only if you agree to give yourself a break.” 

His words slowly sunk in, and you couldn’t ignore how right he was. You were overloaded. The only thing that you could drop from your responsibilities reasonably was class president. You reluctantly agreed, deciding to trust Junghwan on this. You just hoped it wouldn’t backfire.

Adjusting to less responsibilities was hard and even uncomfortable at times. You were always used to busying yourself. The feeling of accomplishing another task had always satisfied you, but the ability to relax was a luxury you hadn’t experienced in a while.

Junghwan seemed to stick by your side more than usual. The normal teasing died down so much that you had to make an effort to get him to crack a joke. You missed your usual banter, and though it was nice to see this new, caring side of Junghwan, you missed how casual you used to be with him. Wondering whether your pathetic breakdown had made him uncomfortable plagued your mind at times.  

You still helped him with some of the class president duties. Only a little, though, as he wouldn’t allow you to do anything more than guiding him through what to do. It made for after school sessions together in the art room most days. You would work on homework or just relax and watch him work. You liked how warm it felt to be around him. 

“You were right about taking a break.” You said one afternoon in the empty classroom. Your head lay on the desk that Junghwan was working at, colouring in a big poster to hang up for the bake sale next Friday. The sunlight shone through the window and warmed the side of your face. Junghwan couldn’t help but get a little distracted at the warm glow of the light on your skin. Pretty.

“Oh? Was I?” He cracked a teasing smile, one that always felt right when he was around you.

“I know right? Who knew that you were capable of giving decent advice. You should become a counsellor.” You joked.

He shuddered, “God, no. Imagine having to deal with problems from people you don’t even care about every day.” 

You giggled and closed your eyes again, letting the sound of markers gliding across the paper be the only sound filling the room. Care. Junghwan cared about you.

A few minutes passed, simultaneously feeling like mere seconds and hours at the same time. There was no urgency when you were Junghwan. You were allowed to relax completely and think about nothing… Nothing but him.  

You loved the fond gaze he gave you, the crinkle of his eyes, the lift of his lips into a smile, the sound of his laugh when he got a reaction out of you. You used to despise how much you liked everything about him, how even holding eye contact with him would give you butterflies, but now, you didn’t seem to mind.

Junghwan finished the poster off with white highlights on the bright green letters, making sure they would pop out just as much as if you were the one making the poster. He smiled proudly at his work, hoping it was neat enough for you to approve of too. He was about to ask what you thought of it when he realized you had been quiet for longer than usual.

He glanced down, his smile growing even more when he saw your eyes still closed, head lying on the desk with your arm used as a makeshift pillow. He sighed, deciding not to wake you up just to affirm his poster for the bake sale. He rested his head on his hand, staring fondly at your peaceful face.

“Pretty…” He mumbled to himself without even realising. The image of you sleeping was just too perfect, and Junghwan quickly made sure to save it in his brain forever. He couldn’t deny that he had wanted to be more with you for a long time. At first, he was just excited to have met a girl who was on his level; who could match his brain and wit. You even surpassed him in most areas. He was never entirely sure if you were interested in him too or not, though. You never seemed to admire anything about him, neither were you prone to jealousy like past girls he had been interested in. You just lived as yourself and let him live with you without any expectations. And he liked that about you.

“No… You’re the pretty one.” 

Junghwan’s eyes widened as he looked back down at your face. Your eyes were still closed, a small smile playing at your lips, satisfied with your little whispered remark. Dozens of panicked thoughts raced through Junghwan’s head, but his face remained calm; still focused entirely on yours.

You opened your eyes and glanced up at him, lips curving into a more prominent smile. His ears were dusted red, and it was so cute. He just stared at you, voice caught in his throat. Not that you needed words from him. You sat up, leaning slightly closer to his face, searching for hesitation on his end. He just blinked at you, once, twice. 

You didn’t have time to see him blink the third time, because as soon as he did, he closed the small distance between you two. You had imagined kissing Junghwan many times. How soft his lips would be, whether the kiss would be fast or slow, how long it would last. All these things you had considered many times before. But the kiss in your imagination didn’t compare even a little to how he was kissing you now.

It was soft— both his lips and how gentle he held you. He seemed almost scared to push too far, but it wasn’t enough for you. You pulled him even closer, allowing him to tilt his head and taste even more of your cherry lip balm. He was breathless, face hot and mind completely fuzzy by the time you pulled away. You were no better than him. Your eyes still stayed close a few seconds too long as you processed what just happened. It had all ended too quickly, though you were sure your lips had been on his for at least 2 minutes.

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly and then giggled. You looked like a deer in the headlights as you blinked your eyes open. You broke away from your frozen state when you saw Junghwan’s bright smile.

“For what?” You asked, eyes twinkling. 

“For not doing that sooner.” He smiled.

“Better late than never.” You whispered.

Junghwan beamed, “I’ll make it up to you.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead as he stood up from the desk.

“And just how will you do that?” You asked suspiciously, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Will you go out with me on Friday?” 

“Hmm… It depends. Will you ask me to be your girlfriend on this outing?”

He grinned, “I could ask you right now if you prefer. Can I be your boyfriend, Y/n?”

You smiled fondly at him, adoration in your eyes, “Yes. You can be my boyfriend.”